Following the Xbox Games Showcase shown a few weeks ago, the growing sentiment amongst fans was that the press conference was not as much a pitch for Xbox Series X, but rather a pitch to sign up for Xbox Game Pass. However, it looks like Microsoft may be changing things up with the branding for the service, by removing the word "Xbox" and just calling it "Game Pass."
Game Pass is a service offered on both Xbox consoles and PC, where players have access to a growing library of games to download and play. A wide variety of titles are included with the deal from smaller indie titles like Forager to first-party Xbox games like the immensely popular survival game, Grounded.
It's now been pointed out by users on Twitter that Xbox has slightly changed the branding for Xbox Game Pass. The profile picture for both the Xbox Game Pass and Xbox PC Game Pass Twitter accounts have changed to new pictures that omit the word "Xbox." The former of these two accounts seem to have acknowledged this change with a tweet saying, "Trying out a new look."
While no official reason has been given for the branding change, that hasn't stopped players from speculating. Some players have voiced that they feel like some of Xbox's terminology can be confusing. This confusion could lead to potential users of the Game Pass service not understanding that despite it saying "Xbox" in its name, there is an option for PC players too.
Recently, Xbox did away with the 12-month option for its premium online service, Xbox Live Gold. This has led to the rumor that Xbox Live Gold will be going away and multiplayer will either be free, or players will just have to subscribe to Game Pass to play online. If the latter ends up being the case, Xbox will have created an extremely powerful service that combines Xbox Live Gold, Game Pass, and xCloud all in one. This could also limit quite a bit of confusion as to what subscription service players should sign up for when it comes to their new Xbox Series X.